Cosmetic products that temporarily improve the appearance of the skin by masking the irregularities with an opaque cosmetic film are available. This invention proposes an effective alternative to the use of those masking cosmetic products to prevent and/or treat skin that has aged and/or is subject to environmental aggression.
Throughout life, each individual is subject to exposure to sunlight and air pollution either occasionally or to multiple and/or extreme exposures. The skin continuously suffers aggression from numerous extrinsic but also intrinsic factors. The extrinsic factors include ultraviolet radiation (mainly linked to exposure to the sun: sunlight-induced aging), environmental pollution and atmospheric pollution, but also wind, heat, low relative humidity levels, contact with household surfactants and other chemicals, abrasives, smoking, alcohol, drugs, diet, stress, mechanical stress, severe atmospheric conditions and so on. The intrinsic factors include chronological aging and the other biochemical changes in the skin. The following may also be cited: hormonal upheavals, fatigue, acne, obesity, tanning, diets, disease, for example, hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice), hematomas and disorders of the blood microcirculation.
Whether extrinsic or intrinsic, those factors induce cosmetically undesirable impairment of the visible appearance, clinical and physical properties and physiological and histological functions of the skin and even give rise to visible signs of (premature or non-premature) aging of the skin.
The most noteworthy and patent changes include dryness and the development of fine lines and wrinkles, loss of elasticity, wasting and sagging of the skin, loss of firmness, thinning of the skin, loss of uniformity of the complexion, a dull complexion, hyperpigmentation, senile lentigines, red spots, a rough, coarse surface texture and a marbled pigmentation. Dull and impaired hair, hair loss and an unbalanced scalp are also frequent symptoms.
Other less obvious but nonetheless measurable changes occur when the skin ages or is subject to chronic environmental aggression and include a general reduction in the vitality of the tissues and cells, slowed cell replication, a decrease in protein synthesis, an increase in proteolysis, a decrease in cutaneous blood circulation or vasodilatation with blood stasis, seepage from the blood compartment, reduced water content, an accumulation of errors in the structure and function of proteins, a deleterious change in the skin's barrier properties, connective tissues and cohesion, and a reduced ability of the skin to remodel and repair itself.
In particular, in the case of secondary effects related to accumulation of iron in the peripheral cutaneous tissues, such as hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice, neonatal icterus), hematoma, and rings (or circles) under the eyes, pigmentation is promoted by the inadequate elimination of hemolysis products: violet-green appearance of biliverdin, brown-red-orange with bilirubin and mineral iron, violet with hemosiderin.
For many people, an impaired or aged skin reminds them of the disappearance of youth. For that reason, our societies attribute great importance to apparent youth and fighting against deteriorated/damaged/imperfect skin has become an economic issue. The treatments proposed range from functional cosmetic creams to cosmetic surgery.
External factors, like internal factors, supply the body with a great variety of substances that are both exogenous (xenobiotics) and endogenous. Those substances, frequently lipophilic, have a high affinity for the skin that is itself lipid-based. The skin surface concentrates all the substances that impair the skin and contribute to its imperfection.